3 Year old with autism and SPD
My 3yo son is autistic and has sensory processing disorder. His sensory seeking tendencies vary from tactile, oral, visual, and proprioceptive. Most of his habits are harmless, but his oral sensory needs have become an issue in our household. We still allow him to have a pacifier because the alternative is chewing/ruining his clothing or biting us (mostly me— not in a malicious way, he does it when he’s overwhelmed or excited). The pacifier has recently become even more of a problem— he likes to flip it in his mouth so the nipple is at the roof of his mouth and the plastic part juts out. He then will press his mouth into our bodies which is not only extremely painful, but causes the nipple to come loose from the plastic. I’ve tried teethers, plastic teething necklaces, terry cloth teething necklaces, crunchy food, cold food, etc but nothing seems to give him the oral input he needs. Any advice would be HUGELY appreciated, we’re at our wits end and don’t want to keep spending money on (weirdly expensive) pacifiers. It should also be noted that he has a significant speech delay and does not understand when we tell him to “stop doing that”.
TL/DR my autistic son has an extreme need for oral sensory input and I don’t know what to do!